TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin chirality and electric polarization in multiferroic compounds RMn2 O5 (R = Ho, Er)
AU - Wakimoto, Shuichi
AU - Kimura, Hiroyuki
AU - Fukunaga, Mamoru
AU - Nishihata, Keisuke
AU - Takeda, Masayasu
AU - Kakurai, Kazuhisa
AU - Noda, Yukio
AU - Tokura, Yoshinori
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors thank Kay Kohn for invaluable discussion. This work was supported by Grant-In-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas “Novel State of Matter Induced by Frustration” (nos. 19052001 and 19052004) and by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) no. 16340096 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.
PY - 2009/9/1
Y1 - 2009/9/1
N2 - Polarized neutron diffraction experiments have been performed on multiferroic materials RMn2 O5 (R = Ho, Er) under electric fields in the ferroelectric commensurate (CM) and the low-temperature incommensurate (LT-ICM) phases, where the former has the highest electric polarization and the latter has reduced polarization. It is found that, after cooling in electric fields down to the CM phase, the magnetic chirality is proportional to the electric polarization. Also we confirmed that the magnetic chirality can be switched by the polarity of the electric polarization in both the CM and LT-ICM phases. These facts suggest an intimate coupling between the magnetic chirality and the electric polarization. However, upon the transition from the CM to LT-ICM phase, the reduction of the electric polarization is not accompanied by any reduction of the magnetic chirality, implying that the CM and LT-ICM phases contain different mechanisms of the magnetoelectric coupling.
AB - Polarized neutron diffraction experiments have been performed on multiferroic materials RMn2 O5 (R = Ho, Er) under electric fields in the ferroelectric commensurate (CM) and the low-temperature incommensurate (LT-ICM) phases, where the former has the highest electric polarization and the latter has reduced polarization. It is found that, after cooling in electric fields down to the CM phase, the magnetic chirality is proportional to the electric polarization. Also we confirmed that the magnetic chirality can be switched by the polarity of the electric polarization in both the CM and LT-ICM phases. These facts suggest an intimate coupling between the magnetic chirality and the electric polarization. However, upon the transition from the CM to LT-ICM phase, the reduction of the electric polarization is not accompanied by any reduction of the magnetic chirality, implying that the CM and LT-ICM phases contain different mechanisms of the magnetoelectric coupling.
KW - Multiferroic RMn O
KW - Polarized neutron diffraction
KW - Spin chirality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68649128541&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=68649128541&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.physb.2009.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.physb.2009.06.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68649128541
SN - 0921-4526
VL - 404
SP - 2513
EP - 2516
JO - Physica B: Condensed Matter
JF - Physica B: Condensed Matter
IS - 17
ER -